


hands off

by princessoftheworlds



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Audio 039: Dinner and a Show, BAMF Toshiko Sato, Canon Compliant, Gen, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27386995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessoftheworlds/pseuds/princessoftheworlds
Summary: The first time it happens, it’s an honest mistake on Jack’s part.Tosh has just finished retrofitting her new PDA after the last one was destroyed wading through the Cardiff sewers for Weevils. She’s added a Rift energy detector and direct access to the Mainframe and sets the PDA smackdab in the center of her desk when she wanders away in search of a cup of coffee, hoping Suzie or Owen haven’t tried their hands at the abandoned coffee machine again.When she returns, her PDA is not where she left it. In fact, it’s not on her desk at all.
Relationships: Ianto Jones & Toshiko Sato, Jack Harkness & Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper & Toshiko Sato
Comments: 14
Kudos: 34





	hands off

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I'm American. I listened to Dinner and a Show last night to distract myself. This is kinda self-explanatory. 
> 
> Thanks to Estelle for the suggestion! 
> 
> Obviously, spoilers for Dinner and a Show! It's brilliant! You should all listen to it!

The first time it happens, it’s an honest mistake on Jack’s part.

Tosh has just finished retrofitting her new PDA after the last one was destroyed wading through the Cardiff sewers for Weevils. She’s added a Rift energy detector and direct access to the Mainframe and sets the PDA smackdab in the center of her desk when she wanders away in search of a cup of coffee, hoping Suzie or Owen haven’t tried their hands at the abandoned coffee machine again.

When she returns, her PDA is not where she left it. In fact, it’s not on her desk at all.

She nearly tears her hair out looking for it, and when she finally finds it, used as a paperweight in Jack’s office, she nearly tears his hair out as well.

“I didn’t pick it up on purpose!” he protests with wide, innocent eyes. “It was just there, and I just sorta...absentmindedly swiped it.” The last part is said down to his desk, Tosh’s glare intensifying. He mutters something additional about  _ damn pickpocket habits. _

The second time is even worse. 

Ianto is finally there to make proper coffee, and Tosh is happily sipping at her cup. She sets it down on the corner of her desk, far away enough from her work and the internal guts of her PDA she’s fiddling with.

Things happen in slow motion.

Owen drifts into the Hub, hangover and stumbling, but he stumbles just a tad too far, tripping over - well, Tosh doesn’t know. His hand falls on the edge of Tosh’s desk for support, knocking over her cup of coffee. The dark liquid trails closer and closer, soaking through her neat pile of reports, before finally splashing onto the exposed wires of her PDA.

Violent sparks fly into the air, igniting a sudden roaring fire that nearly burns off Tosh’s eyebrows.

After Jack comes rushing in with the fire extinguisher and dutiful Ianto has disposed of her destroyed PDA, Tosh advances on a sullen, pale Owen. The rest of the team watches in horror.

Once the shouting is over, Tosh says calmly to a shrinking, somehow paler Owen, “And you will be paying for my shoes, of course.” And she points to her designer boots, abandoned by Suzie’s desk, that are now stained wih coffee.

Owen can only nod. Jack is too shocked to reprimand Tosh for using unknown alien electronic parts in her PDA.

The final time, however, is a complete and total accident, although Ianto had been at the Hub for the second time, so he really should have expected it.

Ianto is just innocently cleaning, duster in one hand, broom leaning against Gwen’s desk. He strides over to Tosh’s desk and tidies up already-tidy files, pushing everything into place. Then he lifts her PDA.

No big deal. He does it all the time when dusting Tosh’s desk, but now, it is Ianto’s unfortunate luck that Tosh chooses that moment to stroll back into the Hub, having forgotten her glasses. 

For a long second, they make eye contact. Then Tosh’s clever, dark eyes narrow, and Ianto can feel himself draw back. He remembers the bollocking she’d given Owen.

“Bugger,” he mutters, but Tosh comes near and snatches her PDA away. She grabs her purse and then strolls out as quickly as she strolled in.

Ianto thinks he’s made a lucky escape, but when he comes in tomorrow morning, called in early by a fake Rift alert, just in time for Tosh’s lengthy lecture, he knows he’ll be making her apology coffees for the rest of the week.

“This,” Tosh says, holding up her PDA to the team’s wide eyes, “is my PDTTPDA. AKA my Please Don’t Touch Tosh’s PDA.”

After she has them recite it countless times, Ianto thinks it’s burned in his brain. (But several months later, when he rushes for the opera, he’ll be proven wrong.)

**Author's Note:**

> Sending everyone good vibes for today. Keep your fingers crossed and your hopes high!
> 
> Find me on tumblr [here](http://princess-of-the-worlds.tumblr.com/) or on Twitter [here](https://twitter.com/rajkumarinik). I tweet and reblog mostly Torchwood with occasionally amusing commentary on nonsense. Please come talk to me and tell me if/how much you like my fic or like ask me about it on tumblr; all my schoolwork has become remote now, and I have limited social interaction.


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